Traditionally, various methods and apparatus have been implemented to prepare an area, such as a surface area, before performing any type of work that may collaterally damage a space otherwise intended to be preserved. These methods are employed during remodeling procedures, painting jobs, or any other type of task that may undesirably result in damaging, for example, a floor space.
In the context of painting for example, one of the most important aspects of preparing a room for painting is protecting or covering an area that is not intended to be painted. Perhaps the most difficult area to protect is the surface or floor area immediately between and around a door jamb, as well as, the floor area adjacent to and around a door. For decades, professional painters have attempted but struggled to implement various techniques to accomplish this task more efficiently and effectively.
Many traditional tools have sought to properly address this problem of adequately protecting floors or surfaces during such jobs; however these methods remain inefficient, time consuming, and therefore undesirable. For example, the traditional method of using materials, such as paper or plastic segments, and placing them on a floor surface for protection from paint, has proven to be time-consuming and inefficient. Furthermore, such materials are fragile in nature and usually too frail to withstand the reasonable volume of foot traffic, and consistent usage thereof, that is generated by a working personnel while executing a paint job.
Such products and methods, while seemingly simple and inexpensive actually require consistent re-adjustment, repair, or replacement of covering material while working on and around a floor surface area that is intended to be protected. Thus, to save the user time and money, more durable resources may be utilized to assure a particular surface area remains protected and preserved during a paint job.
Another widely used method for protecting the floor area around a door area is using a standard or customary drop-cloth. However, the dimensions of these standard coverings and method of placing thereof carries many limitations. Thus, in order to provide adequate coverage between door jambs there must be a larger drop-cloth piece that must be folded into a rectangle shape to efficiently fit between opposing door jambs. This method proves to be ineffective and inadequate because floor areas directly below the door jambs remain unprotected.
Due to improperly dimensioned drop cloths, door jamb spaces may remain un-covered and otherwise unprotected thereby requiring additional materials, such as tape, to adequately protect the given area. Furthermore, after an extended period of time to accomplish this desired coverage, workers are usually left with multiple layers of cloth with paper and tape on top, which may be intrusive and disruptive to door movement and subsequently creating more undesired problems.
Complications to cover exposed areas often causes floor covering to develop a bubbly texture on its covering surface, thus making floor space susceptible to damage from unwanted exposure to leaking paint droplets. Users are unable to utilize full door potential or in extreme cases the door must be removed from its hinges; thus resulting in additional time wasted to compensate for defects in the floor covering.
In other instances, a door that hangs from hinges on its jamb may not swing on its hinges without catching on or causing a bunching up of the drop-cloth due to an inadequate space between the bottom of the door and the finish flooring. Workers find unevenly bunched-up sections as undesirable obstacles that may obstruct their workspace; such drop-cloths are not capable of preserving a consistent flat design for adequate floor covering of door jambs and space.
Other covers are improperly dimensioned due to design limitations, which do not consider adequate coverage of door jamb and door area as requisites for providing covering. Again, users compensate by forcing these covers to fit a limited area and use tape to cover floor areas that are otherwise left exposed and susceptible to paint.
Another problem with present practices is the materials used to protect surfaces from undesirable substance spills. Some covers are made of disposable materials, which are often impractical since constant replacements are required before use, creating unnecessary waste and constant re-supplying of resources.
Other floor coverings, which are not disposable, are constructed of paint impermeable materials typically assembled with a canvas-material. Canvas is heavy in nature and thick. If opening or closing a door, the protective cover is usually caught and bunched up by the door due to inadequate spacing left between the cover and the door. This inadequate spacing requires some doors to be left closed for proper painting, thus, all the equipment needed to accomplish a painting task must be brought into a room prior to painting because the only way to properly provide coverage to an entire floor area is to leave the door closed-often requiring tools and workers to stay in the room. This is inefficient and inconvenient, thus covers manufactured from thick (usually heavy) materials such as canvas, which do not allow door functionality, are undesirable.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a system and method of protecting a surface that does not require constant handling during preparation; constant replacement with each use; properly protects vulnerable spaces often left open and exposed to unwanted substance spills; is cost effective; and efficient to implement when preparing a surface for performing improvement work, such as painting around a door area. It is to these ends that the present invention has been developed.